Crystal Heart
by Draenog Glas
Summary: "I wanted to make a deal with you. I will trade our hearts, so I can deal with your pain that stretched on for 50 years. I want to do this because I want to sacrifice. I love you." Short story, Sonic/Shadow.


**AN: A short story I decided to make just for the hell of it, because I guess I need a little more cutesy fluff.**

**This is a Sonic/Shadow piece, so if you're not a big fan of that shipping, then I don't advise you to read this, even if they don't have sex or anything because people who hate this ship seem to even get riled up even if they're just put together sometimes.  
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The sun looked like such a pretty gem in the sky. A ruby that was up there, shining so bright, shining brighter than any other sun I saw in that sky. It was a radiant heart, as its orange blood continued to run across that sky, making the body of the world spur into moment.

And today, my heart was beating too. Fast. Nearly faster than me. It continued to thump against me, beating in my chest as if it wanted to creep out. But I kept it in. It wasn't time for it to come out yet. I just secured it in my chest, tried to wrap it up so nicely with my skin and bundle of fur like some kind of Christmas present, keeping it away from someone I had to admit that I deeply loved. And it wasn't time to have my heart to my sleeve. Not yet.

Hearts are strange, aren't they? This one is. It sometimes tries to crawl all over my body. Sometimes in my throat when I get nervous, sometimes up to my arm when I feel depressed about somebody, and sometimes I use both my heart and brain to think about something. And they're like little machines that you're hooked up to so you can keep breathing and living. And inside you have all these wires through your body, the heart zapping electricity through you. We're all nothing but just organic machines. The stomach is the fire pit, our arms are the crane, and the heart is the engine. But don't let me confuse you into thinking I have some kind of mechanical heart. That's far from the truth. I have something else different than that.

I went back to Green Hill Zone a lot. It was where all my adventuring began and where I still come back to once in a while, because it is a beautiful place. The striped grass, the sparkling blue sea, the checkerboard mountains…it was a lot of nostalgia for me really. But that really wasn't the reason my heart was beating so fast. I've been to this place lots of times, but it never caused the engines to roar this fast. Everything seemed to be in fast motion for me, and the sun looked as if it was sinking faster to the mouth of the ocean. The sky looked exactly like the color of blood at that moment. The sun was a bleeding heart.

"So, you said you come here once in a while? To analyze things?"

He sat down next to me, as the wind cradled both our quills and fur. It was windy that day too. And quiet. I heard a few birds chirping and talking over things that I didn't know because I didn't speak their language, but it was nice to hear, so I didn't mind.

I felt quiet. For some reason, I just appreciated having him sit next to me as we watched life go by here. I didn't want to say anything, but he was looking at me like he was expecting an answer. "Yeah. Once in a while. It's nice here. I just come here and think over things for a while. This is where everything started here. I feel like sometimes things have started here and things will end here in Green Hill Zone. And sometimes even heroes like me need to take a break from everything. I bet you felt like that sometimes too."

And he was also quiet. He usually was quiet. We just closed our eyes and listened to the birds speak for a while. Maybe we were trying to decipher their language, whatever they seemed to be talking about. Maybe they were actually talking about us.

"So why did you want me here?" he asked, turning to face my gaze. "There must be a reason you wanted me to travel here. You said you wanted to talk to me, but what about?"

He went right to the chase. But my heart just continued to beat faster against me. I had to admit, I even felt a little nervous talking to him. But many people were always nervous talking to him. After all, he called himself "the ultimate life form" sometimes. I recognized there was some moments where he wasn't always right there altogether. But yet…I can tell you that something drew me to him coming here.

The sun was getting lower, and I can see the stars beginning to come out from hiding. And it was stunning. I always loved to see the night sky here.

"I wanted to make a deal with you," I said.

"A deal? What kind of deal?" He then stood up. "We don't need to make deals right now, blue one. Things are quiet now. Eggman hasn't decided to disturb the peace right now. I'm not sure what you mean."

"I know that. But…I would like to do something for you. You don't need to do anything for me. Except you have to be patient and…kind."

His eyes scanned me carefully. "What do you mean?" he asked again.

Crickets began to play their little violins for us, the strings clicking against them. My heart still was beating quite fast, sending so much electricity that I sweat a little. Hopefully he didn't see it. But I knew I had to say something now. I couldn't let this moment go nowhere.

"You're making my heart jump and body shake, I hope you realize that."

"What do you mean Sonic? What do you mean you wanted to do something for me? I don't understand at all why you wanted me here. Answer my question."

He sounded a little annoyed, but that was Shadow. I might as well just come out with it now. There was no point in making this linger.

"I love you."

"Wh-what?"

"I love you. And I always will. No matter how much pain you went and will go through, I will love you. Through the very skirts of time. If you wanted me to prove how much I loved you, I would race to the moon and race until I found the sun's glowing face. I will do anything for you, even take a bullet, hell, many bullets for you. And I wanted to do something for you, for you to be able to deal with this constant sadness in your heart."

He was silent. I knew he would be. He did look surprised, and even began to face the ground as if he was in deep thought over my words. It was a lot to take in I recognized, but hopefully he could digest and absorb it all.

"And why do you love me, blue one?"

That was where I stood up too. "I don't need to tell you all of the reasons why I love you, or else we would be here for a long time. It would be easier for me to show you that I do love you."

"Then show me."

I stood for a moment, a quiet moment where the wind picked up my quills and blew against my face. Then I tackled him.

We rolled down the hill, Shadow beginning to curse loudly, but I was having fun as we tumbled down the checkerboards. I was laughing, as the stars watched us play. As we reached the bottom, the soft grass cushioning Shadow as I ended up being on top, I kissed him gently on the lips.

It was a warm, loving kiss, and I felt like time stopped, and the moon was still there hanging in the same position in the sky for a while. But I wanted time to stop for a while, because it felt so nice on his lips, and I hugged him, brushing myself against him affectionately.

I thought in that moment, he was going to break it by telling me to get off of him and I should go to hell and all, but…he just laid there, clasping me in his arms and not saying anything. The stars and the moon seemed to watch us, intrigued, wondering what he was going to do next, and the crickets prepared to play the next song as if this was some kind of special event or play.

"So you…love me? And you wanted to take…my sadness away?" he muttered softly.

"Yes." I rested my head on top of him, closing my eyes for a while, absorbing the sounds of the ocean waves and the crickets playing their next sonata with their band.

He lifted his hand, rested it on my head, and began to stroke me, even giving my ears and head a nice scritch now and then. It felt so nice for him to return the affection, and I began to purr slowly, nuzzling my head against his chest, as he pet me again and again and scratching my ears, head, and neck. And I just thought _oh geez, just let this moment last for a long time. Just pause everything and let him hear how much my heart was ticking against him and to let him feel so much love since he was on the ARK so long ago._

"Here was my favor," I said, as he brushed my quills. "I wanted to trade hearts. I wanted to share your pain, so I know what it's like to feel your loss, your sadness, so I can understand, and help you. You can't help someone if you don't understand what they're going through, right?"

"Trade…hearts? What are you getting at? You can't…"

It was time for my heart to show. I lifted my hand and made it push through my fur and flesh, through the very cavities of my body, and even if it hurt a little to grab it and to pluck it like a ripe fruit off a tree, I pulled it out gently and showed it to him.

My heart was made of crystal. And it shined as the moon was glazed over its light. It looked just as bright as the moon too, as it glowed just as much as the stars. I let him touch it, rub it, to know that it was very much real in his hand, and it felt soft, like velvet, despite being made of crystal.

The heart knew pain, but I knew it would be lighter than Shadow's. I knew he carried a lot of it, but I wanted to understand. I wanted to sacrifice. And he held it, gently feeling it with his thumb as he asked, "Are you sure? Are you sure that you…want to go through with this? I have too much pain. Pain that stretches on for all of my 50 years. And you really want to go through with this?"

"Yes."

"Well, if you say so. But you know we can't do this for a while, right?"

"Yes."

His stare was locked onto mine. "If you say so."

He reached into his chest, and I was nearly surprised, no, shocked, when I saw his heart. It was crystal as well, but…it bled so much every time it beat, blood cascading down it. There were many holes, holes that I knew he tried to fill up, but he was so unsuccessful, as they continued to be gaping pains, gaping wounds, places where blood escaped and stained the grass.

"And you said you wanted to go through with this. I guess that means you really do love me Sonic. And I love you too. But I fear too much that I may lose you. All I can say is that I hope this…never happens to you."

As we traded hearts, as we let them fall to our chests, I felt like his heart was a knife, many needles that was making my body bleed and to leave me wretched and dead. But I simply nestled it inside me, no matter how much I really wanted to flinch or pull it out. It must've felt so nice for him to have a heart that felt like cotton to put inside of him.

Then as the heart was settled inside me…I suddenly felt a wave of grief, a sudden huge tumultuous tidal wave of so many emotions wash over me, drowning me, that I began to cry, so many tears falling from my face. I tried to hide it from him, I didn't want him to have the duty of making sure I didn't went insane, but he pushed me against him, and I cried on his chest, as he held me and seemed to try to comfort me like I was some hungry and lonely baby.

I didn't want to lose him. I felt so much towards him, that I nearly felt myself being broken and torn from my threads whenever I imagined him gone. He was right here, with me, but it wasn't enough. I just wanted him to promise that he will be okay, even if those promises meant truly nothing. Just the words mended my wounds a little.

"Will you be okay, from now on?"

"Hmm?"

"I said, will you be okay? Please tell me that. Please tell me."

More tears flooded in. He embraced me tighter, as if I was going to be sucked into his body, but he told me. "Yes. I'll be okay. From now on."

"Promise me. Please."

"I promise."

My tears began to cease a little. Just hearing him speak those words helped fill my heart somewhat, and it felt like a godsend to have my pain decrease a little. It still felt heavy, like I was carrying hundreds of tons inside my body, and the engine took a much harder time to pass all that electricity, but I knew that it would work if I had some good firewood going inside of it. Something that will let it flare up and forget about the pain for a while.

I rose, freeing Shadow from my weight, and he rose as well, as if he was expecting something from me. The night was in full, and the moon was such a pretty gem. It looked like an opal, many shades of colors being reflected from its face as the stars illuminated against it, and I could even see those colors on the ocean, those pink hues and greens dancing in the waves.

Even with all this weight, I felt like grinning, as I knew this pain would pass and would not last through all this time. There was someone I loved with me, and love can heal all this pain until this weight would feel nothing but like a mere pebble.

"Hey, how about we race Shadow? Until the moon shows its true face? Until light spreads all over the world? Until the birds begin to speak about the good times I had in this place?"

He nodded, and I can even see a smile creeping on him too. "Yes. We can do that. And more."

It was then that I ran, the grass blazing under my feet. "Last one to the edge of the earth is a rotten Eggman!"

And he laughed, a laugh that I was happy to hear, that echoed inside my brain, and I wanted to remember it even when I was no longer blue but old and gray. And I realized even if I seemed to carry his pain, my heart was loved and free.


End file.
